This is not going to be for the faint of heart, so be warned before you read further.

The young woman in the story says she went into premature labor and delivered her baby alive on Dec. 21, but problems due to the early birth caused his death; doctors had worked with him for about 20 minutes before he passed away. The hospital is maintaining that the baby was stillborn.

The mother’s sister says that she accompanied a nurse who took the baby’s body to the hospital’s morgue. On Jan 2, the hospital contacted the mother, stating that the funeral home had come to pick up the baby’s body, but it couldn’t be found. Police say that the baby was thrown out in the garbage; searches have been underway, but the body hasn’t been found yet. The hospital hasn’t admitted that the baby was thrown away, but they aren’t disagreeing with the police report either.

This is a horrible thing to happen; the hospital says the baby was stillborn, but is that really an issue? Either way, the baby’s body is missing, and the hospital isn’t denying that they threw it away.

Of course, this brings to my mind another story in the news- a young teenager gave birth to a baby at home, and when it died, she threw it away. A body has been found but they haven’t determined whether it’s this girl’s baby or not. What does it say about our society that we find the bodies of thrownaway babies, and they have to run DNA tests to determine whose baby it is?

And as horrible as that is, consider this: the bodies of aborted babies are discarded in our country every day- where is the fine line that makes it OK to do this to an aborted baby (I refuse to call them a fetus, they’re babies) and a baby who was either born dead or died after birth? At what point is a baby a baby and not a fetus? At 6 months along in the pregnancy? At 8 months and two weeks? And if that’s the line, what about one day before the line? Or even one hour?

Our society has grown complacent about life itself – if abortion weren’t such an easy thing and so accepted a practice, I don’t believe our young people would feel so flippant about the rest of life. Abortion has become a form of birth control – if you decide that you don’t want to lose your waistline right now, then go ahead and abort that baby. It’s no one’s business but yours, right? And it’s certainly not hurting anyone, is it? I know, some of you are probably jumping up and down, screaming about rape, incest and the life of the mother… but look at the statistics – most abortions are performed on women who are ‘just not ready for a child’.

When we as a society decided that some forms of life aren’t sacred, like the unborn babies, or those who are old and unable to care for themselves, or those who are ill and need assistance in their daily lives, or those who are mentally disabled and need some supervision – when those people aren’t living a life that’s worthy enough to save, then we’ve gone too far. Whose responsibility is it to say whose life has quality, and whose doesn’t?

My sister in law had ALS for the last several years of her life. Although near the end, she couldn’t do anything for herself, she was a wonderful gift to us all. We helped her when she needed help, and she helped us- she encouraged us, she lifted us up in prayer, she taught us so many things- how can a life as full as that not be a life of quality?

I would hate to think about a daughter of mine being raped, and becoming pregnant by that act. But the lasting effects of an abortion, both physical and mental, should be weighed against the effects an unwanted pregnancy might cause.

God help us- we’re going down the road to hell and we don’t even realize it.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about Obama’s statement on when he believes children should be eligible for human rights. I still stand behind what I said, but I do have some thoughts that are related.
I read a devotional this morning from a young woman who had an abortion years ago, and suffered in silence for many years. She thought God couldn’t forgive her, and she also thought that she was the only Christian who had ever had an abortion, so she felt others wouldn’t accept her if they knew.
How sad that must have been- I cannot imagine going through something like that on my own. Part of her hurt and loneliness is due to people who are pro-life and don’t carefully choose their words. When we speak out on our beliefs, we need to make sure that we’re doing it in love. We are standing up for helpless children who can’t stand up for themselves; when we do this, we need to make sure we’re not stepping on those women who have decided to have an abortion because they don’t think they have any other option.
I believe that a child is human at conception; I believe that all people have the right to live their lives, whether it’ a child who may have health, physical or mental problems, or an older person who has gone past the point when they are totally self-sufficient, and need help taking care of their needs. I believe all people are valuable, no matter what their circumstances.
I’m willing to stand up and tell anyone what I believe; but I need to be very careful that while I’m trying to save one life, I’m not destroying another. I also need to make sure that when I ask a young woman to choose life for her unborn child, I am willing to step up and help her in whatever way she needs it, so she can choose life.
No matter whether we’re pro-life or pro-abortion, we need to make sure we’re ready to stand with these women when they make their decision, and be ready to support them afterwards.
I’m going to make sure I do this – are you willing to make the same choice?

I don’t usually like to make negative comments about anyone, especially out in public where it can come back to bite me, but the current presidential campaign has really gotten under my skin.
I watched the recent interviews that Rick Warren hosted with Obama and McCain. I’ve seen several folks comment in their blogs that they didn’t think church was the place to do this. I think this was a great idea – we need to be having this type meetings in all kinds of places, to encourage everyone to participate and understand what we’re voting on. I also loved the way it was set up too. No mudslinging, no arguing with each other and trying to come up with snappy answers, just each candidate having to be as open and honest as possible.
So when Obama was asked at what point did he think a baby deserved to have human rights, I was pretty stunned at his answer… most answers he gave were not short and to the point, giving him time to consider how he wanted to answer, and this one was the same way. And “above my pay grade” was the best he could do?
I think I’m going to market a t-shirt with that phrase on it… woe be unto us if we hire someone for the job of president, who thinks life-changing decisions like this are above his pay grade.

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